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Tarantula
Summary 'Tarantula' is one of Pendulum's most widely recognized tunes from their 'Hold Your Colour' LP, due to its energetic, dance-floor oriented, but easy-to-digest flow and sound design. The song heavily emphasizes and builds its structure in correlation to MC-style vocal performances by Colin "MC $pyda" Griffith, Jonathan "Tenor Fly" Sutter and Daniel "Shabba D" Burton. Aside from Rob's heavy, gritty bass-, and drumlines, Tarantula also includes brass instruments being played by Pablo Mendlessohn, Tim Smart, Jonathan Shendyand James Morton. It is stated, that Daniel "DJ Fresh" Stein contributed as well, though unlike his involvement with the origins of the song, his role in production hasn't been clarified so far. Versions 2004 September 'Pendulum' Version Played at the Pendulum dj set at the Leisure Plaza on the 11th of September, 2004. This Version begins with a unique, shorter intro with synthesized brass rather than the recorded ones heard in the final version. Spyda's vocals come in, singing 'Pendulum! Eyyo! Pendulum might sting ya! Eyyo!', after which some weak drums and claps come in with the original lyrics. When drums go out, instead of the percussive hit heard in the final, there are extra vocals. After a quick buildup with a snare included, the main section begins, which includes a light, melodic, double octave bass while it also plays the Tarantula vocals and the horns from the intro. The main section repeats 3 times, with every second time being an instrumental section of it. The song continues with a drumline solo, and ends with a break samples / percussion solo. 2004 September 'DJ Fresh' Version Played by DJ Fresh at the Xsound podcast on the 6th of October, 2004. Fresh's Version also has the shout-out part from the intro, except that 'Pendulum' is replaced by 'DJ Fresh'. His version does not include snares in the buildup. The Main section's first 16 bars received a brand new drumline, and a bassline very similar to their Bacteria Remix's. The second half of these 16 bars include a new bass melody, louder percussion, and during this time Spyda's vocals are pitched up to match the bass's key. After that the song returns to the same mix and structure are Pendulum's earlier version, in fact it's quite possible that what Fresh played is an edit between the two. 2004 October 'Pendulum' Earlier Version Played at Pendulum's Innovation Boxing Day DJ Set at SeOne on the 6th of November, 2004. While the playout date is much later than the versions to follow, it's possible that this version was played out earlier than those, as it is essentially a transition between Fresh's 'September' version, and the current one's 'Later' counterpart (Though it is possible, that the same way Fresh's 'September' version might have been one, this also could have been just an edit created after the 'Later' version has been created, to allow Pendulum to find out which intro works better). While intro remains the same, except for a laser fx hit on the snare at its very end, the main sections have been drastically changed in this iteration. This is the point in the tune's lifetime when Tenor Fly's and Shabba D's vocals were added. Around this time the tune became remembered by the dnb audience as a mashup between Serial Killer and Tarantula, as the latter sampled some of its vocals from the former. Shabba D's vocals appear during a brief drum-less part instead of Tenor's 'come fi get some!' section, which follows into another brand new section with a saw lead following the bassline, as Spyda's original vocals are played. The two main sections loop together once, after which the song ends with the percussive drum solo and a fade out. 2004 October 'DJ Fresh' Version Played by DJ Fresh at One Nation Drum & Bass Academy at the Brixton Academy on the 11th of November, 2004, and Fresh's set at a Slammin' Vinyl event, NYE of 2004/2005. This version's buildup retained the snares from an earlier version of the song, and instead of the laser hit, it has the 'ooh' sample from Serial Killer. It also includes Spyda giving a shout-out to Fresh in the beginning. 2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version Played by Pendulum at the Fatal Messarosh Drum & Bass Night (Czech) on the 22nd of October, 2004, as well as Andy C's NYE Set in 2004, Pendulum's B2B with Flex in Vienna in 2005, their Pirate Station III appearance in St. Petersburg, and Bad Company at their Broken Transmission set. Pendulum seemed to favour this version the most, due to the fact that it carried over to 2005 as well, while the others did not. The intro's skank instrument's pitch has been downshifted, a small synth was added which plays either alongside the horns or instead of them. The sub bass line was removed from the part before the intro vocals come in. The intro vox are also swapped for some vocals by Tenor Fly, different from Spyda's lyrics, or his 'shotta hitta' section. 2004 October 'Andy C' Version Played at Andy C's Innovation Boxing Day DJ Set at SeOne on the 6th of November, 2004, Andy C's B2B Set with DJ Hype at One Nation Valentines on the 5th of February in 2005, Andy C's set with Friction at Portsmouth on the 28th of February in 2005, and most likely every other set he did around the time. Same as Pendulum's 'Later' version, except for the swapped out vocals at the very end, giving a shout-out to Andy C. 2005 April Version It can be traced all the way back to John B's WUK set in Vienna on the 9th of April, 2005. It includes a completely re-made intro (with Spyda's tarantula vocals making a return), a buildup similar to the October 'Pendulum' Later Version's, new drumline and mixdown, detail changes such as the tone down of the horror pad/arp, and the sine swipe effects during the drop, the addition of the third, instrumental main section with the high pitched vocal loop, a full breakdown section, a second buildup, and an outro with the brass playing alongside a massive, airy synth. Tenor Fly's vocals have been reduced to only the 'shotta hitta' section, and Shabba D's were removed entirely. The synthesized brass instruments have also been replaced with actual recordings of Pablo Mendlessohn (trumpet), Tim Smart (trombone), Jonathan Shendy (tenor saxophone) and James Morton playing them. Several slightly alternate versions have been made of the final edition of Tarantula for a variety of DJs close to Pendulum, all of which contain only one difference in the track: the intro's vocals are slightly altered, with Spyda giving a shout-out to the artist the respective version was intended to be played out by, similarly to how Fresh and Andy C have had their own editions during the time the track was being made. Currently we know of Fresh, Andy C, Adam F, Mampi Swift, and DJ Hypebeing in possession of said special editions. These were most likely also recorded during the original vocal recording session in 2004. Process of reveal and musical development Around end of 2004's summer, Spyda visited Fresh's flat, to have a recording session with Pendulum, on which day the original Tarantula vocals were put down. On the 5th of September in 2004, in a thread of Fresh's Drum and Bass forum, Dogs On Acid, a fan approached Rob with a question regarding the rumoured Pendulum album's progress. He replied, letting him know, that they've made a new tune with MC Spyda, and that he thinks that the album is about halfway done. After which a few days later the song ended up getting played out by Pendulum at the Leisure Plaza on the 11th of September. Over the next few months, numerous iterations of Tarantula have been made for, and played out by different DJs, including Fresh,Bad Company, Andy C and possibly more, that we are unaware of. As testing of the tune continued, the iteration we refer to as '2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version', seemed to be the most preferred version by Pendulum, which they continued to play out until the new version appeared on the April of 2005. After which, Tarantula was no longer being updated (to our knowledge), and was well on its way to charts as soon as it got released on Tarantula / Fasten Your Seatbelt Single on the 27th of June, 2005. It was also included in Pendulum's Hold Your Colour LP on the 25th of July. Lyrics MC Spyda: Black tarantula, time for the massive come sing ya Black tarantula, don't play with my style I might sting ya Black tarantula, you want me inject me bacteria And if ya body goin' stiff and your spine goin' numb Now come fi get some! Massive! Time fe fill up your lungs with some air right now! Tenor Fly: Shotta, hitter, serial killer Go-a your funeral and all drink out your liquor When you are bury we a-stand next to vicar Fling on some dirt and make your bury a little quicker Shouldn't test the youth them in the Tommy Hilfiger Hug up ya mama, say sorry to ya poppa All-a get number for ya little sister A through we cold like Alaska, freezer Unused Lyrics MC Spyda: And if ya body goin' stiff and your spine goin' numb Me have 'nuff lyrics, now come fi get some! Tenor Fly: What you called? Me noeven know your name ''You no come nowhere inna the badbwoy hall of fame ''How you want fe diss all the youths dem pon the main MC Shabba: Junglist, when me come inna the place and pick up the mic Trivia * It is not clear if Fresh had any involvement with its production, however he did take active part in testing the tune, as well as he was the person who introduced Pendulum to the Mo' Fire vocal session CD, where the Tenor Fly and MC Shabba D vocals originate from. * Tarantula was featured in the Australian television drama series Underbelly, in an episode of the UK series Skins and CSI: Miami, and in the soundtrack for the video game MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. * S.A.S. (Streets All Salute) somehow have obtained an Instrumental Version of Tarantula, which then they used in their album track, similarly titled 'S.A.S. - Tarantula'. * Tenor Fly unfortunately passed away on the 17th of June in 2016. The event spawned numerous tributes to the legendary MC, including Mafia & Fluxy's Tarantula (Tribute to Tenor Fly), featuring MC Spyda and Top Cat. * Tarantula's raw acapella got played out by Pendulum's Paul Harding, on the 4th of April, 2017 at Pirate Station History, and also at the majority of Pendulum DJ sets after. * The 2005 April 'Final' Version's vinyl was mastered by Jack Adams, while its album version got mastered by Stuart Hawkes at Metropolis. Downloads * Tarantula (2004 September 'Pendulum' Version) @ Leisure Plaza 2004-09-11 played by Pendulum * Tarantula (2004 September 'DJ Fresh' Version) @ Xsound Podcast 2004-10-06 played by DJ Fresh * Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Earlier Version) @ SeOne 2004-11-06 played by Pendulum * Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version) @ Fatal Messarosh (CZ) 2004-10-22 played by Pendulum * Tarantula (2004 October 'DJ Fresh' Version) @ Slammin Vinyl 2004-12-31 played by DJ Fresh * Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version) @ Broken Transmission 2005-02-05 played by Bad Company * Tarantula (2004 October 'Pendulum' Later Version) @ Vienna 2005-01-30 played by Pendulum and XO * Tarantula (2004 October 'Andy C' Version) @ SeOne 2004-11-16 played by Andy C * Tarantula (2004 October 'Andy C' Version) @ One Nation Valentines 2005-02-05 played by Andy C and DJ Hype * Tarantula (2005 April 'Adam F Version) @ Kings Of The Jungle Double Impact 2005-04-30 played by Adam F * Tarantula (2005 April 'Andy C Version) @ Accelerated Culture 2005-05-01 played by Andy C * Tarantula (2005 April 'DJ Hype' Version) @ ? played by DJ Hype * Tarantula (2005 April 'Mampi Swift' Version) @ Dreamland 2005-05-03 Played by Mampi Swift 2005-05-03 * Tarantula (2005 April 'Final' Version) - Instrumental Intro * Tarantula (2005 April 'Final' Version) - Acapella @ Pirate Station History 2017-03-04 played by Pendulum Needed Research Edit We would greatly appreciate, if you helped us find out: * Where to find Fresh's One Nation Valentines set from November 2004 * Where to find a recording of 2005 April 'Fresh' Version * Where and when did DJ Hype play his 2005 April 'DJ Hype' Version * If there are any others Spyda sang additional lyrics for * If there are any other recordings, rips of alternate versions of this song